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Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind

The trip through the music alluded to in the novel The Ten Weeks will take a mellow turn this week with Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind."  Lightfoot is the only Canadian represented in this list. This is a relatively new performance, but this is still a very smooth and beguiling song and …

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Santana: Black Magic Woman, and the Isolation of Academia

This week's music alluded to in the novel The Ten Weeks is Santana's "Black Magic Woman," a song that got a good deal of radio play at the time the novel is set.  But I'd like to digress a bit and use it to illustrate how academics (and I am one, part time at least) …

Smokey Robinson: Tears of a Clown, and a Tribute to a Great Broadcaster

I'm taking my series of videos of music alluded to in the novel The Ten Weeks in a different direction this week with Smokey Robinson's "Tears of a Clown," a television performance that is very much from the time the song was released (and the setting for the novel too.) But it brings up something …

Rolling Stones: You Can’t Always Get What You Want

This week's video relating to music alluded to in the novel The Ten Weeks is the Rolling Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want."  In this case, the performance comes from their 1997-8 "Bridges to Babylon" tour, so they had come a long way from their heyday and the era of the novel. But …

Grand Funk Railroad: Closer to Home

This week's video relating to music alluded to in the novel The Ten Weeks is Grand Funk Railroad's "Closer to Home."  It's their performance of this classic in Shea Stadium, New York, on 9 July 1971. On the album with the same name, the song ends with a very effective fade out.  Unfortunately, that couldn't …

Kevin Ayers: May I?

I'm continuing my series of videos of songs that pop up in the novel The Ten Weeks.  This time it's Kevin Ayers' "May I?" which appeared on his 1970 album Shooting at the Moon.  This rendition (I think) appeared on Spanish television in 1972. Kevin Ayers is someone most Americans are totally unfamiliar with.  And …

Blood, Sweat and Tears: Sometimes in Winter

This is the second is a series of videos of songs which find their way into the novel The Ten Weeks. It's Blood Sweat and Tears' "Sometimes in Winter," from their eponymous album. Although it's a very reflective and contemplative piece, music of the era sometimes inspired unpredictable reactions, and that's what happened here.  You …

Ten Years After, Love Like a Man

I'm taking a leaf from legendary Anglican blogger Baby Blue's notebook and posting the first of what (hopefully) will be several videos of character-defining videos from my novel The Ten Weeks. The first is Ten Weeks After's "Love Like a Man," the defining song of novel vamp Denise Kendall.  Long before the devil wore Prada, …

Emmanuel

Emmanuel was the name of two groups who composed, performed and led worship music in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal during the late 1970's and early 1980's. In the course of events, the two groups (one in Ohio, the other New Mexico) "came together" and their music, to some extent, merged. This page features four albums …

Czerwono-Czarni: Msza Beatowa–Pan Przyjacielem Moim

(Muza XL 0475) 1968? One of the genres of Mass music that never quite got off the ground was the "rock Mass." Part of the problem was that rock Masses aren't very participatory in the sense that people can easily sing along with the music; it's more of a "spectator sport." But the other problem …

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